At this point we NEED him to take the draws for whatever line he's on, but positionally I don't see how this guy can play center. He's not enough of a distributor. He is better suited to playing the wing and driving straight. Once the puck is on his stick in the middle of the ice it's unlikely players on his periphery are going to get it without completely disrupting any semblance of an organized break-in.

He's in a slump? Guy is point/game right now. If this is a "slump" the way to get him back on a roll is to put him with Gags-Hemsky

I actually don't think the 2nd line has been outplaying the first line.

Tonight was the first night to me it looked like they really started to click as a unit because Yakupov became more activated.

They've benefited from better puck luck and easier match ups.

The first line out chances our other three lines combined for most games this season, they're just snake bit (see Eberle again today, Hall overreacted to his missed penalty shot the other night by trying to shoot between the legs, etc. etc.).

When Yakupov's game ratchets up and he gets more comfortable at the NHL level, then that second line will be scary, though Hemsky and Gagner should learn already to start looking for his shot more often. He has the best shot on the team.

I'm thinking the same thing right now. Hall played well at the center position last night the few times he was there. He has the burst speed. He back checks very well. His FO% looks prime! He actually dominated last night when given the opportunity.

Yakupov - Hall - Hemsky >Hemsky has chem with both Hall and Yako

Gagner - Hopkins - Eberle>Ebs and the Nuge are both struggling/Let's give them a little more sheltered minutes.

I've been against Hall to center, as one he doesn't want to play there and two I don't think his play will be maximized there.

Problem is one, we are running out of bodies and two we need to maximize the team play right now and not Hall's play. Switching Hall to center might hurt his play, but overall it's probably better for us for the short term.

I think we should also consider putting MPS at center, or perhaps defence. J Schultz could play LW on Hall's line, maybe with Belanger switching back to D to take his spot. Actually, what about Eager? Can he skate backwards? If so, he'd be a great offensive defenceman owing to his unique skillset of having legs and both arms. Dubnyk as a crashing offensive winger would really give us some size on our top two offensive lines, plus he has a corporeal form, instead of being an ethereal cloud of protoplasm in a non-gas permeable containment suit, like so many other hockey players these days.

Funniest thing I've read all morning!

Also why are all of you for moving Hemsky down to the 3rd line when he's been one of our best forwards? If anything it should be someone on rnh's line

Our biggest problem is healthy bodies and centers that can win draws. Grit wasn't going to be the deciding factor yesterday. The lack of NHL centerman is what is hurting and going to continue to hurt.

When were healthy, our centers are fine IMO. Our 1st & 2nd lines have all skill & finesse but little grit & physicality. Need a guy that can do the dirty work and create space so our skilled players can do their thing.

When were healthy, our centers are fine IMO. Our 1st & 2nd lines have all skill & finesse but little grit & physicality. Need a guy that can do the dirty work and create space so our skilled players can do their thing.

What I'd like to see is a split between Nuge and Eberle. I think that they both need possession of the puck in the offensive zone to be effective whether it be through passes or Eberle's ridiculous wrister.

On the other hand you have Yakupov and Hall who are both very fast and like breaking in the zone with the puck on their stick. You then have Hartikainen, Hemsky and Gagner to fill in the rest of the top 6. At some point this season I would like to see this at least tried when (if) we get healthy.

This gives every player the chance to play their natural position, that top line has proven chemistry, and the second line has a playmaker, a sniper and someone to drive the net. Hemsky would still get his minutes playing on the third line and on the powerplay.

If there was ever a time to give Taylor Hall a shot in the middle this would be it.

X-RNH-Yakupov
X-Hall-Eberle

That would be a pretty sweet set-up in our top six for years to come. Gives us a chance to move Gagner for a top four defencemen or big LWer as well. I say give it a shot - beats Arcobello playing in the middle at least.

Judging by Halls faceoff performance he might be a natural dot man, we can expect this type of surprise from all of our young core guys as they are so talented, even they dont know where they will excell yet, we need to go with the flow, if the sucker is winning draws keep him on the dot, you cant take shots without the puck.

I wish MPS was a faceoff man because his game has taken bigger steps this year than any of the other core guys, MPS has matured faster than his peers, even though our hardheaded coach has not aknowledged this fact and has shown reluctance to reward the hard work and committment, MPS has had extra challenges purposefully put in front of him, un-needed regressive challenges that make no sense.

Taylor has looked great this year, if his line sat down with Gagner for an afternoon and just talked then all of Halls excellent zone entrys and passes might be paying off, we are now in the evolutionary position where we are finding that we have more skill and talent than puck time and we are FAILING to properly manage this dynamic from a coaching perspective, this is intuative dynamic managment and I am afraid we have a very pragmatic coach who doesnt believe in intuition. We need to let the pieces fall where they best fit with this depth of talent and skill, instead we are trying to force the issue and it is killing us out on the ice, we need system continuity immediatly. We need to manage our possesion time on an entirely new and higher level, this is not a player performance issue this is a managment issue.

Hall has shown a new look on the wing this year, last night he went back to the old get crushed trying to do it all yourself game and almost got creamed again, we need to address this because the way hall was playing up till last night when he tried that suicide rush was exactly what we needed, we dont need him to play a one dimensional role unless we are doing this as part of a much bigger tactical picture, and right now there is no tactical picture, we have hit a wall.

Taylor needs to be a force on the wing, and unless we ask him to catalyse the 1st line he needs to allow Nuge to run the dynaimc attack for the line. The coaches are supposed to be executing this dynamic personall managment, and I am not seeing it happen properly. If taylor wants to hold the puck and gain the zone and pass then we need to ask his linemates to fulfill very specific system roles, maybe they cant do that, the sucess the line has shown in the past was in large part due to Hall threatening the wing and opening up the ice for Nuge and Ebbs to work off of that one killer dynamic, if Taylor wants to use his skillset fully to enter the o-zone instead of just his speed he still needs to let Nuge catalyse how the offense develops, he is taking the lead naturally, and his coach is supposed to sense this and ask him to execute differently.

Obviously our 1st line can dominate at the NHL level under certain dynamic conditions and they falter under other dynamics, so why is it so hard for the coaches to see what works and what doesnt--- well it actually isnt hard at all as they see what we see, this is an issue of being stubborn and refusing to deviate from a strict system philosophy, this is really an issue with an INFLEXIBLE system, and a coach who is comitted to a system he has had sucess with in the past with vastly undertalented rosters, Ralph doesnt even understand the options he has, his system has some excellent points and he has shown an excellent ability to adjust his teams on ice performance during games, he has however shown a big weakness in identifying and addressing real-time dynamics onice and adjusting to them accurately--this is the stubborn part that is hurting us as we DONT have to be so system stricken, we have the talent and skill to work within the system in more creative ways than Ralph is used to seeing. We just need to loosen the grip of the system rules a little and ralphs System will work, but if we try to be exact with Ralphs system as we are seeing it we will continue to spiral downwards.

I think if any of our wingers could be moved to center, it would definitely be Hall, but with that said I would only do it short-term when the team is in dire need of it. I think many of you could agree with that.
Hall can pretty much play where ever he is needed, the guy is that good.

On a side note, Eberle has really disappointed me this year; he has seemed practically invisible to me in most of the games.